Cooper v. Cobe Laboratories, Inc.

• Decision Date: 01 August 1990
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 88-S-1587.
• Citation: 743 F. Supp. 1422
• Parties: Lynnette COOPER, Plaintiff, v. COBE LABORATORIES, INC., a Colorado corporation, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Colorado

743 F. Supp. 1422

Lynnette COOPER, Plaintiff, v. COBE LABORATORIES, INC., a Colorado corporation, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 88-S-1587.

United States District Court, D. Colorado.

August 1, 1990.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

John Olsen, Boulder, Colo., for plaintiff.

Dirk Biermann, Denver, Colo., for defendant.

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER

SPARR, District Judge.

THIS MATTER came on for trial to the Court on June 12, 1990 on claims pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. The Court, having heard the evidence, considered arguments of counsel, and being now sufficiently advised in the premises, enters the following Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Orders of Judgment.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Plaintiff, Lynnette Cooper, is a female who was first employed by Defendant, COBE Laboratories, Inc. ("COBE") on November 28, 1973. COBE manufactures medical equipment and products and has its principal place of business in Colorado. COBE maintains manufacturing facilities in Arvada and Lakewood, Colorado, and in Tijuana, Mexico. Jurisdiction pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is conceded by the parties and is appropriate in this case.

A. Employment History

Following Ms. Cooper's initial employment at COBE, she worked for approximately one and one-half years in the packaging department, followed by two years in the quality control department. She was then promoted to production supervisor. She worked in this supervisory capacity for approximately one year before she was promoted to be the first training supervisor. This was a new position which was developed and awarded to her in line with her exceptional abilities. She subsequently became a supervisor in the production department and in the plastics processing department.

The company structure was basically four-tiered: top level management, middle management, supervisors, and employees. During Ms. Cooper's fifteen years at COBE, she served under some seven or eight different managers or supervisors. Through her entire early career at COBE Laboratories, Ms. Cooper received personal evaluations which were in the "very good" category. During her supervisory tenure, Ms. Cooper supervised as many as 30 people. Up to the time that her final supervisor, Mr. Sam Wood, took over the job as plant manager, she had received no criticism of her abilities, her work habits, or of the departments which she supervised. At or about the time Mr. Wood took over the management, it became evident to Ms. Cooper that Mr. Wood was of the opinion that her department was not performing well.

During Ms. Cooper's career at COBE, very few women were in senior supervisory positions. Eight or nine were in such positions during 1978 and 1979 and approximately 18 were in such positions at the time of her termination. Plaintiff's Exhibit 69 shows that in 1987, 17 of the 18 managers were male, while 12 of the 17 supervisors were male. At the time of Ms. Cooper's discharge there had been no substantial change in this situation.

B. The Mexico Operation

At a point in time which is not clear from the evidence, the company made a determination to open an operation in Mexico to manufacture disposable blood tubing sets. The plant employed Mexican national citizens as general labor, with the operation being overseen by company supervisors transferred from the company operation in Denver. During late 1986 and early 1987 Ms. Cooper was responsible for "planning" and for ordering parts utilized by COBE in the Mexican plant. Ms. Cooper was also given assignments to assist in the implementation of the materials requirements planning programs to support the Mexican operation. These assignments were in addition to Ms. Cooper's other duties as a Production and Inventory Control supervisor in the Production Inventory Control Department (PIC Department).

It was apparently determined by COBE early in 1987 that the department in which Ms. Cooper was working was not performing well. Ms. Cooper's performance was apparently also questioned. In approximately May of 1987, top level management decided to decentralize the PIC Department and move it to the Mexico plant. It was apparently decided that the job functions in that department should be transferred to Mexico. Ms. Cooper and others in her department were notified of this reorganization in May of 1987 and were advised in the summer of 1987 to seek other employment within the company. During the summer of 1987, the PIC Department was gradually dissolved and responsibilities of persons employed in that department were either eliminated or reassigned.

C. The Job Opportunity System

During all times relevant to this action COBE had a policy known as the "The Job Opportunity System" ("JOS") for posting of jobs available within the company. Job openings were to be posted so that employees could consider them and apply if interested. The evidence indicates that, in reality, not all jobs were posted. In some instances, employees were pre-selected for jobs that were never posted. It was conceded by COBE that the JOS in place in 1987 was not working particularly well. During the summer and fall of 1987, Ms. Cooper made attempts to locate another position within the company through this system but was unsuccessful.

D. The First "Excessing" of Plaintiff

In October of 1987, COBE confirmed in writing that Ms. Cooper's employment with COBE would terminate on December 31, 1987 if she did not secure another position within the company by that date. COBE referred to this method of termination as "excessing." One Dave Cortez, who had been transferred to the plant in Mexico sometime earlier, assumed responsibility for implementing the new materials requirements function for the Mexico plant. Ms. Cooper alleges that this function was basically her job in the PIC Department which the company had purportedly eliminated. COBE contends that Mr. Cortez's job was in fact a combination of several functions with an emphasis on computer planning and programming for raw materials purchase and inventory control. COBE asserts, and the Court finds, that Mr. Cortez was very qualified for these responsibilities. He was also assigned responsibility as a buyer for parts used in the Mexico plant, a job which had previously been assigned to one of Ms. Cooper's co-workers in Denver, Dave Famiano. It is conceded that Ms. Cooper was never a buyer although she performed several of the functions which Cortez later assumed. In addition, Cortez assumed responsibilities of another of Ms. Cooper's co-workers, Sharon Garcia, who had also had her job declared "excessed" in the dissolution of the Denver PIC Department. Ms. Cooper and her co-workers all assisted in the transfer of the functions of their PIC Department to the Mexico plant by providing information and assistance to Mr. Cortez. In fact, Ms. Cooper trained Mr. Cortez to do many of the functions of the job which she had previously performed.

COBE alleges and it appears unrebutted that the decision not to transfer anyone from the PIC Department, including Ms. Cooper, to the Mexico plant was based principally on Mr. Wood's assertion that the performance of that department and of the people employed in that department was unsatisfactory. However, there is no evidence that Ms. Cooper was ever notified in writing of any poor performance in the PIC Department. At the time it became evident to Ms. Cooper that her job functions were being transferred to Mr. Cortez, she confronted Mr. Sam Wood with that fact and asked why she had not been considered for the job. Apparently Mr. Wood advised her that he had made the decision. She alleges that he stated he made the decision "because I had some feed-back on you" and refused to explain the basis of that comment. On several different occasions, she volunteered to be reassigned to Mexico. She assisted in training Mr. Cortez in the functions of his new position, despite her dissatisfaction that his new job had displaced her previous position.

It is also appropriate to note that at no time was the job in Mexico ever posted pursuant to the company's JOS. Mr. Cortez and other transferees to Mexico were pre-selected on a subjective basis. Mr. John Dupont, the manager who purportedly selected Mr. Cortez and others who were later transferred to Mexico, admits that Ms. Cooper was never considered for the position which Cortez filled. He stated that Sam Wood suggested Cortez for the planning job in August of 1987 and that no other persons were ever suggested. He conceded in his testimony that the decisions regarding jobs in Mexico were not based on a purported company policy not to transfer Denver people to Mexico, but rather were based upon the individuals involved and were totally subjective in nature.

During this period, Ms. Cooper coordinated her efforts to obtain new employment with one Barbara Rapp in the company's Human Resources Department. It was later determined that, during this same period, Ms. Rapp was dating Mr. Sam Wood, the plant manager and Ms. Cooper's boss. Ms. Cooper did not know this at the time she was consulting with Ms. Rapp in connection with her efforts to secure other employment within the company. During these early conferences with Ms. Rapp, Ms. Cooper disclosed certain confidences with respect to problems she was having with Mr. Wood and apparently also disclosed personal opinions about Mr. Wood and other matters that were confidential in nature. It is clear to the Court from the evidence that during the time she was consulting with Ms. Rapp, who later became Mrs. Wood, Ms. Cooper was unaware of Ms. Rapp's relationship with Mr. Wood. It is not clear from the evidence when Ms. Cooper first mentioned Mr. Wood to Ms. Rapp, but it is clear that she had on-going counseling with Ms. Rapp for some time preceding the year 1988. In later testimony Mr. Wood admitted that he had discussions with Ms. Rapp about Ms. Cooper...